


we could be the start of something

by yuusaku



Series: smile world [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Sharing a Body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 07:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10458981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuusaku/pseuds/yuusaku
Summary: It's odd falling for someone who lives in your head, but it works.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Someone save me this is the third fic I've written today I haven't even gotten around to watching the sub yet.
> 
> Title comes from the lyrics to Start Of Time, by Gabrielle Aplin.

Yuuya watches the others, sometimes, on the occasions when he's not having to actually control things. Watches whoever _is_ in control, or watches the others who are hanging back with him.

He finds himself watching Yuuri the most. Yuuri, who interrupts everyone and spies on them whenever he feels like it, who spends more time making sarcastic comments or pissing the others off (particularly Yuugo) than he does anything else. Yuuri, who hasn't actually had a single conversation with anyone outside of them that wasn't just him knocking whoever was in control out of the way to be difficult, and make whoever they were with uncomfortable.

It takes a while. Yuuri doesn't leak thoughts that aren't _intentional_ , and even internally he comes across as entirely put-together in a trashy, rude kind of way. So it takes a while, even for Yuuya, who _gets_ this kind of thing better than he usually lets on himself.

_Are you lonely?_ he asks Yuuri eventually, in the background while Yuuto's working on homework and Yuugo's napping.

Yuuri shoots him a sharp, considering look that only lasts a second, and then just snorts. _What makes you think **that**?_

_You don't speak to anyone,_ Yuuya sends back, ignoring the attitude. _Not properly, anyway._

Yuuri doesn't answer this time, and in the end Yuuya just sighs and reaches out to touch his arm, trying to ignore the odd not-quite-tangible feeling of touch in this place and the way that Yuuri flinches at it. _We could get ice-cream tomorrow,_ he sends, _If you wanted, anyway._

That seems to perk Yuuri up somewhat, though he's still watching Yuuya a little warily. _Okay,_ he answers eventually. _If I get to pick._

Yuuya just grins at him, and once Yuuto's finished with their homework he pencils in 'ice-cream after school' on the calendar, writing it with Yuuri's gel pen and underlining it with his marker.

(the other way around would probably be standard, since he's the one putting it down, but he's _seen_ what Yuuri orders at the ice-cream place and, yeah, Yuuri can have complete control for that monstrosity)

* * *

They start spending time together after school semi-regularly after that, slotting in ice-cream and pastries and arcade trips around everyone's other engagements. It's not an exclusive thing, exactly, but Yuuto and Yuugo tend to leave them to it, and Yuuya finds himself more grateful for that than he would have expected.

It's easier that way to bring Yuuri out of his shell, at least. He's less confrontational - not that he tends to _seem_ confrontational, but Yuuya's started classifying certain instances of sarcasm and mockery from him that way - when it's just the two of them, more likely to let the mask drop a little. And he doesn't seem so different behind it, per se, still finicky and hard to please with a tendency toward sarcasm and whining, but…

But he _is_ different, in a way that Yuuya can't totally put a finger on. He doesn't complain just for the sake of it, so much, and his sarcasm is less biting and his whining more… playful, almost. He'll pout and whine when Yuuya steals control and stops him from ordering some kind of sugary monstrosity at the coffeeshop, but with a not-totally-suppressed grin that Yuuya can hear in his voice without having to even look inward. Or he'll make some kind of sarcastic comment that's clearly aiming to ring an actual laugh out of Yuuya, rather than just make everyone who hears it that little bit uncomfortable and annoyed.

He hasn't gotten as far as really talking to anyone _else_ , but it's still a step forward.

(so is the way they'll link hands in the background, sometimes, when Yuuto or Yuugo are spending time with someone else and they're not allowed to watch)

* * *

Getting Yuuri to interact well with the other two is more of a chore than it feels like it should be, after he's been doing so well with just Yuuya.

Yuuya is determined, though. He loves Yuuri's company now that he's gotten him out of his shell, and he _knows_ the others could enjoy spending time with him too. Maybe… maybe not quite so much, because he's pretty sure he wants to keep the hand-holding thing and maybe also the after-school things between the two of them, but… enough to be friends, at least.

Yuuto is the easiest one to start with, for all that anyone from Heartland seems like the logical _last_ choice for trying to get someone to befriend Yuuri. But he's calmer than Yuugo, or at least better at _looking_ calmer, and for the same reason Yuuri doesn't put quite so much effort into trying to rile him up - because why put in more effort for something that's so much easier with Yuugo, seems to be Yuuri's logic.

In the end, he manages to get them working together on art, since both of them enjoy drawing. It involves a lot of bickering, still, because their preferences are very much _not_ the same, but it seems like more good-natured bickering, at least, and they start to seem like they're doing more than just tolerating each other. Yuuya's happy to take it, to be honest - it's not like he wants to _force_ them together, just get them more comfortable with each other so that he's not Yuuri's only option for socialising.

Yuugo is harder, no matter how low a bar Yuuya sets himself for it. Because Yuugo is friendly, yes - friendlier than Yuuto, if he had to choose - but he gets riled up easily and Yuuri just doesn't seem to be able to _resist_ taking advantage of that.

Yuuya may or may not end up chickening out and going to Yuzu first, with promises to buy her favorite candy if she goes for coffee or something with Yuuri. With promises of the same to Yuuri, too, although his promise comes with the addendum that he only gets the candy if he plays nice. The idea of possibly not getting something from Yuuya that Yuzu is _guaranteed_ to get sets off Yuuri's sulkiest pout, but he still begrudgingly smiles back when Yuuya grins at him.

_Well, I **guess** I'll play nice,_ he sends eventually. _But only because you're cute. And for the candy._ He pauses a moment. _**Mostly** the candy._

(Yuuya will take it, and when Yuzu reports back that Yuuri even went as far as complimenting her skirt, he ends up buying Yuuri his favorite candy _and_ a soft, pink sweater he's seen him eyeing a few times on shopping trips)

* * *

Yuugo is the one to approach Yuuya, after that, while the two of them are in the background to let Yuuto and Yuuri bicker over how many mouths Yuuri is allowed to add to whatever thing they're drawing that shouldn't have any mouths at all.

They're not super close themselves, Yuuya finds himself realising as they sit there together, half-watching the other two. They've interacted, and they get on, but both of them tend to spend more time with other people - whether inside or outside of their body - than with each other. They sit comfortably enough together, though, although Yuugo's fidgeting in a way that makes Yuuya think he has something on his mind.

They're silent a while before Yuugo finally blurts, _So, uh, me and Yuuto have been talking about the. Yuuri thing._

Yuuya just blinks at that.

_I mean, that you guys are close, and…_ Yuugo trails off, looking like he'd kind of like the ground to swallow him up. Unfortunately the inside of their head doesn't have a ground, exactly, so he's out of luck. _Or, no, that's not right, just… You like him! And you want him to have friends! And. Anyway we were talking about it and I'll try not to get mad at him so much if he'll stop being such a asshole—_

He cuts himself off abruptly, with a look that makes Yuuya think he probably would have bitten his tongue if he were actually speaking, and he's still half-projecting - something like the feeling of a hissed-at-yourself _stupid_ , but without actual words - and Yuuya ends up grinning and reaching out to pat him on the arm.

_It's okay,_ he sends, trying to add as much reassurance to the projection as he can manage. _I know what you mean, don't worry. I'll speak to him. And thank you, **really**._

Yuugo relaxes at that, and sort of pats Yuuya's arm back a little awkwardly before excusing himself for a nap further in the background, leaving Yuuya to watch the other two and think about the exchange. _You like him,_ Yuugo had said, and the word had kind of kind of reverberated oddly - _**like** like_ , maybe, or that'd be the closest thing out loud - in the projection, meant something _more_ without really _being_ more. It was unintentional, Yuuya's sure, part of the fact that Yuugo is the worst of them at not leaking everything he's thinking, but even if it wasn't intentional he still _got_ it.

(he watches Yuuri draw and thinks about holding his hand and can't really argue with it, he finds)

* * *

"We should kiss," Yuuri says idly on one of their after-school ice-cream trips a few days later, twirling his spoon in his sundae. He doesn't _need_ to talk out loud - and whichever one of them is in control on any given trip tends to avoid it, since it makes it look like Yuuya's body is talking to itself - but it gets Yuuya's attention more sharply than a projection would have, and he suspects that's why Yuuri chose to do it.

It's more deliberate, too, an obviously-intentional act rather than the accident that projections can sometimes be.

For all that it got Yuuya's attention quickly, it still takes him a moment to manage a response. The only response he manages even then is the stunningly eloquent, _I— **kiss**?_

It makes Yuuri laugh, at least, and he's smirking as he scoops a spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth. _Mmhmm. You've been thinking about it._

Which… is true, admittedly, but he hadn't thought he was projecting it, and if he was projecting it and Yuuri knows, then the others probably do too, and that's just… awkward.

He's even more embarrassed when Yuuri laughs again and says, _**Cute** , you're not even **out** here and you're making us blush._

_Shut up,_ he sends back.

Yuuri snorts into his ice-cream. _You still want to kiss me!_ he sends, tone sing-song on more levels than would be possible out loud, and as a result he absolutely deserves Yuuya grabbing control of one hand to pinch him hard and make him squeal.

_**Rude** ,_ Yuuri protests, pouting inside and out and sulkily eating another spoonful of his sundae - which, for the record, is the most ridiculously oversweet thing Yuuya has ever tasted and he's never taking even partial control with Yuuri's ice-cream order this close again.

_Shut up,_ Yuuya sends again, _And **maybe** I want to kiss you. Maybe._

Yuuri hums, standing up abruptly and leaving a third of his sundae untouched, which is enough unlike him to have Yuuya making questioning noises in the background.

"Well," he says in answer, pulling his coat on and starting toward home, "We can't kiss unless we're _both_ back there, right? So Yuuto can do homework, and I can find out whether that _maybe_ is really a _yes_."

(it absolutely is, leaving neither of them surprised and Yuuri _very_ smug)


End file.
